Russia is ready to back sanctions against Iran aimed at preventing it from building up military nuclear arsenal, Interfax news agency quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Friday. "We are not opposed to sanctions aimed at preventing nuclear materials and sensitive technology from getting into Iran," Lavrov said.

The Russian minister added that six-nation talks on Iran's nuclear development could take place early next week.

Lavrov said the meeting, proposed by France, would focus on a draft UN Security Council resolution that would impose penalties on Iran for refusing to stop uranium enrichment.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier all agreed Friday to the meeting, Lavrov said, according to Interfax.

Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow's readiness to back a UN ban on exports of nuclear materials and sensitive technologies to Iran, but said Moscow remained opposed "to such sanctions and steps that could affect the International Atomic Energy Agency's activities in Iran," the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.